


Fear

by MagpiePair



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kim Wonpil-centric, Phobias, Team as Family, Wonpil POV, pranks gone wrong, wonpil-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26322466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpiePair/pseuds/MagpiePair
Summary: Wonpil is scared of the dark.--Another take on the clip where the members trap Wonpil in a room with the lights off.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K & Kim Wonpil, Kim Wonpil & Everyone, Kim Wonpil & Park Jaehyung | Jae, Kim Wonpil & Park Sungjin, Kim Wonpil & Yoon Dowoon
Comments: 10
Kudos: 80





	Fear

**Author's Note:**

> https://twitter.com/MyHottestDay/status/1008378256377241601
> 
> My mind saw this cute clip and thought, 'Awww... BUT MAKE IT ANGSTY' Also, there are vague references to a trauma being the root of Wonpil's fear, but I try to leave it open to interpretation. 
> 
> Just wanted to see everybody caring for Wonpil~

Wonpil is scared of the dark.

This much is common knowledge among his bandmates by now. When the group had first formed, embarrassed, Wonpil hadn’t revealed this little fact, discreetly keeping a nightlight by his bed instead. When Dowoon had joined and become his roommate, Wonpil had shifted to the couch, claiming first that his mattress was hurting his back, and then when that lie had been easily picked apart, that Dowoon snored too loudly. He answered his member’s incredulous looks with a blank stare of his own.

His façade had fallen apart soon after when a blackout hit their dorm. Wonpil curling up in the corner of the room trembling had quickly allowed the others to catch on to his fear. Some back rubs and efficient use of their phone flashlights later helped him to calm down, and Wonpil has been grateful ever since that his bandmates haven’t used the fact to tease him (much).

Wonpil goes back to sleeping in the room with Dowoon, nightlight on every night, and it seems that the little incident is behind them. Wonpil is rarely confronted with that which sends him shivering, his every nerve tense and his mind and heart racing- that complete darkness that robs him of every sense of the outside world except the visions flashing through his own head.

Until one day when they are wrapping up from a photoshoot. Wonpil ducks his head as Jae tosses the Chicken Little plushie at him, calling out a, “Yah!” Wonpil picks up the innocent plushie which he had previously left by Jae’s mirror, the result of an escalation of a prank war between the members. Why, just earlier today, Jae had tried stacking Oreos on a sleeping Younghyun, and Wonpil and Dowoon had seen how many times they could get away with informal speech toward Sungjin before he attacked them (3 times, after the previous attempts garnered warning glances and threatening eyebrow raises). So Wonpil only expects the buck to come back around to him at some point, but he doesn’t expect it when he is in the bathroom.

Wonpil finishes checking himself in the mirror to ensure all his makeup is removed, and sue him if he takes a little longer than strictly necessary in their shared bathroom to primp himself. During this process, he can swear he hears giddy laughter on the other side of the door, but he writes it off as more shenanigans from his groupmates. It is only when he tries the knob just to encounter fierce resistance that he realizes the real reason for the laughter- he is the current target of a prank.  
He bangs on the door. “Let me out~” he whines in his most cutesy voice.

“What do you mean, Pillie?” Younghyun sing-songs. Wonpil pulls harder, and this time, there is some strain in Younghyun’s voice, surely from the effort of pushing the door. “What’s the matter?”

“Very funny- now let me go, or I’ll have to be extra annoying tonight.” Wonpil would personally characterize his usual actions as adorable rather than annoying (as his members would describe him), but tomato tomahto.

“No can do,” Sungjin answers this time, and Wonpil groans. If just Younghyun was behind this, he could expect him to get bored within a minute, but if all of them are gathered, he figures they’ll have fun at his expense for a little longer. Maybe he deserves this for his earlier teasing of Sungjin, but-

The lights flip off.

Wonpil’s heart leaps up into his throat.

Wonpil’s sudden silence must spur Jae forward into seeking a reaction from the shorter man, as Jae raps against the door from his side and calls out, “Wonpil, since you decided you don’t want to join us, we’re going to eat all your strawberries in the fridge!” Wonpil hears the smirk in Jae’s voice, but he can’t focus on that, can’t focus on anything other than the dark, the DARK, encroaching in on him. Suddenly the bathroom is way too small, and Wonpil places his hands on either wall and pushes in a vain attempt to expand his breathing room.

Jae must be confused by his lack of reaction to the threat on his strawberries, because he calls out again. “Wonpil?”

Still no answer, as Wonpil is rather busy trying to extract his tongue from the roof of his mouth. He feels all at once paralyzed. It’s dark and small and he begins to feel like he’s right back /there/. And he tries to talk himself through, remind himself where he is, but nothing seems to be working because the blackness overrides all.

“Hyungs,” Dowoon’s deep voice breaks through the haze this time. “Did you flip the light switch?”

A moment of silence. Then, from Younghyun, “Oh crap.” A scuffling sound, and then Wonpil’s world is bathed in light once more. He instantly breathes a sigh of relief, but the anxiety, the panic still claw at his throat. He still can’t bring his hands from his chest, where they have taken up permanent residence monitoring his stuttering breaths.

Younghyun’s voice is quieter this time, right up against the door. “Pillie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you in the dark.” Wonpil still can’t muster up the breath to respond, and a moment later, he can hear Younghyun move away from the door. He jumps at his chance and throws the door open, then he practically pitches forward into the open space of their dressing room. His eyes dart around, still unseeing as though still in the dark, but he attempts to take in the sounds around him to ground himself in the moment.

“Hey, you okay?” Sungjin moves closer, an arm out in an attempt at a comforting gesture, but part of Wonpil’s mind is still back /there/, and he flinches away. Sungjin retracts his own hand like he had been burned- and maybe he had, since Wonpil has /never/ rejected any skinship from Sungjin before.

“Wonpil, you’re scaring us a little here. Can you breathe slower? Can we- is there something you need right now?” Jae meets Wonpil’s eyes a little desperately.

Wonpil can’t keep the eye contact long. When he looks away, his eyes next meet Dowoon’s, and Dowoon looks just so helpless and concerned. Wonpil instantly feels guilty. He is making them feel this way, all because he can’t take a silly prank and a little bit of darkness. So childish- so stupid. He’s already in the light again, so why can’t he shake this feeling of dread? This all-encompassing fear?

He wants to at least try to communicate with them, knows his silence stretching on only worries them further. So he stammers, “I- I just need a moment to calm down.”

So that’s what they give him. Younghyun sits down next to him, and since when had Wonpil crouched down on the floor? Younghyun looks impossibly guilty, his eyebrows pinched together and marring his handsome face. Another blow to Wonpil’s own sense of shame. Jae sits next, then Sungjin and Dowoon, each looking as concerned as the last. They sit together like that in silence for a few minutes until Wonpil’s breathing begins to retake a slow, steady rhythm.

When he feels collected enough, Wonpil raises his head. “’M sorry.”

Jae looks shocked. “For what?? We’re the ones who’re sorry-”

“I never, never wanted to trigger your fear. It was a dumb idea to begin with, and I should be making you feel safe, not-”

“Yah, Wonpil, don’t apologize for something that’s not your fault.”

“How are you feeling now?”

These all come one after another, with Younghyun interrupting Jae, only for Sungjin to speak over him and for Dowoon to interject right after.  
Wonpil can’t help his chuckle at that. “Guys, it’s alright. I’m feeling better now. Sitting with you all helped. And I know you’ll say it’s not bad to be scared, but I am sorry that you had to worry so much over me. Plus, it’s not your fault, you didn’t mean to. I’ve been pranking you guys all day, so I was long overdue to get pranked back.”

Younghyun looks hesitant to grab his hand after how Wonpil had reacted to touch earlier, but he does eventually bridge the gap. “Wonpil, no, any pranks you pulled do /not/ mean you deserve to be put in a scary or stressful situation. If you won’t accept us saying sorry, will you accept a hug?” Sungjin, Dowoon, and Jae’s faces are suddenly hovering right above Younghyun’s shoulder, their own eyes echoing his pleading.

Wonpil hiccup-giggles and doesn’t try to stifle his smile. “Okay.” They each wrap their arms around him, and even sitting in the middle of the dressing room floor, encompassed in their warmth, Wonpil is transported far from the place of fear. Jae’s ruffle of his hair, Sungjin’s thumb rubbing his back, Dowoon burrowing his nose in the crook of Wonpil’s neck, Younghyun nuzzling his cheek against Wonpil’s. Each of these bring him back, and he returns their embrace with equal fervor. Knowing they’re by his side emboldens him for the next time he has to brave the dark. But in the meantime, he’ll enjoy the light and having his members cuddled up right by him.


End file.
